1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



487 



But to return to the medicinal question, 

 ■U'hich is after all the one of greatest moment 

 to us. The plant is easily propagated, and its 

 seed can he mingled with the seed corn and 

 planted at the same time, all over our extend- 

 ed country, resulting, it may be, in untold 

 good to pre.-ent and coming generations. 



Aug. 10, 18G9. k. o. 



THE ORIGIN OP TBB PEACH-BLOW 

 POTATO. 



Asa A. Shepherd, of Saratoga, N. Y., lays 

 claim to being the originator of the "Peauh- 

 blow" potato, and relates the history of its 

 origin as follows : — 



"I cannot fix the exact date, but about 

 twenty-seven or eight years ago the Hon. Sam- 

 uel J. Mott owned a farm opposite the Dean's 

 Corners' store and post-office. Gilbert Wright 

 traded there, and a young doctor boarded 

 with him by the name of Colby. Not being 

 crowded with business, the Doctor and Mr. 

 Wright planted one-half of a lot belonging to 

 Mr. Alott. and my father and his boys the 

 other half. We planted a row of Merino po- 

 tatoes in the middle of the lot, to turn on, so 

 as not to beak down the corn, and they plant- 

 ed a row of Western Reds by the side of ours. 

 In the fall my brother John and I were com- 

 ing across the lot and saw some fine looking 

 balls on the Western Reds, and picked them 

 My wife thinks she tied some together and 

 hung them in the cellar. As to that, 1 do not 

 remember. John lived at home with father, 

 and I lived near by, but all were working to- 

 gether at that time. The next spring we 

 planted the seed, John planting on father's 

 place, and I where 1 lived. He beat me the 

 first year, my place being too much shaded by 

 a butternut tree. Five or six different kinds 

 came from the seed ; one was called the 

 'Shepherd Red.' They were a great deal 

 larger the first year than the other kinds, and 

 less liable to rot. For a few years they took 

 the lead, but it was soon ascertained that they 

 ripened too late to ship in the fall, so they 

 were dispensed with. After we had raised 

 them together for several years, the Hon 

 Henry Holmes, now Superintendent of the 

 Poor of the County of Saratoga, came and 

 purchased a lot of all the kinds mixed together, 

 and then picked out and planted by themselves 

 those that we called 'Calico Potatoes.' In the 

 fall he barreled up a few of them and drew 

 them to the canal, at Coveville, to send to 

 New York, to introduce them, and while there 

 he wished to fix some name by which to call 

 them. A man b'y the name of Verbanks, (a 

 shoemaker.) and Captain Brazure, spoke of 

 their looking like a peach blow. So it was 

 agreed to call them by that name. Afterward 

 my uncle carried some to Massachusetts, near 

 New Bedford, where they were called 'Sara- 

 toga Potatoes.' They were also sent West, 

 and to New Jersey. A few years ago a man 



by the name of Vl organ Moe picked out some 

 of the liaht colored ones and called them 

 'White Peachblows,' which are all the rage 

 now among our neii^hbors. If any one is in- 

 clined to dispu'ethe above facts, let him write 

 to Thomas Sweet, postmaster. Dean's Corners, 

 Saratoga County. N. Y. ; or to Joseph W. 

 Hdl, lawyer, or Henry W. Dennis, hardware 

 merchant — both the latter named gentlemen 

 living at Sch"ylerville, N. Y." 



TKOUBLB WITH BEES. 



Will you, or some of your subscribers who 

 have had experience in keeping bees, inform 

 me what is the trouble with my bees ? I had a 

 swarm come out four da> s ago which pitched on 

 the toi) of a small apple tree. I placed a com- 

 mon box hive over them, letting the corner of 

 the hive rest upon a staging which I put up for 

 the purpose, and let it remain over them until 

 the next morning, supposing they would go up 

 into it as they alwa* s have when I have done 

 so by them ; but they did no such thing, but 

 remained where I first found them. I then 

 tried to "break them up," but they only moved 

 their quarters from the top to the trunk of the 

 tree, where they remained until last night, 

 when I brushed them into the hive, and they 

 stay there, iiut do net work or act as if they 

 ever intend to. If any one will enlighten me 

 on this subject they will confer a fdvor and 

 oblige an — Amateur Beekeeper, Brooks, Waldo 

 Co., Me., June 14. 



The bees described above probably failed to 

 realize, when the hive was first placed over 

 them, that they had ever been hived at all, or 

 might be. And when brushed in at last, they 

 may have been perfecting their arrangements 

 to go to the woods, and so were indisposed to 

 commence operations elsewhere. But as the 

 above appears to have been written within 

 twenty-four hours after the bees were finally 

 put into the hive, combs miiiht have been com- 

 menced in the cluster, which could not be seen 

 without shaking it down. 



The case is a very unusual one, and if the 

 bees still persist in remaining idle, I would 

 suggest introducing a piece of comb contain- 

 ing }oiing brood. This may be fastened to 

 the top of the hive, or supported on an up- 

 right stick fastened in the bottom board, or in 

 any way brought among the bees, and it would 

 be very likely to set them to work. — M. 

 Quimhy, in Rural New Yorker. 



Strong. — It is said that the thread of a cer- 

 tain species of spider — found in the South — 

 supports a weight of fifty-four grains. As 

 this fibre is only the one four thousandth of an 

 inch in diameter, this is at the rate of 123.427 

 pounds, or 6 1 i tons per square inch ; good iron 

 wire sustains tifcy-seven tons per inch; good 

 steel, sixty-six tons ; good gun metal, eighty 

 tons. 



